GameStop’s attempt to buy eBay for $55.5 billion could significantly change the market landscape. For the company itself, it’s a chance to move beyond gaming retail, acquire a major e-commerce platform, and at the same time test whether bitcoin payments can work not just at the corporate level, but also in the mass market.
On May 4, GameStop offered $125 per eBay share. The deal values the marketplace at about $55.5 billion.
The deal is mixed in structure: half the amount in cash, the other half in GameStop shares. Shareholders will be able to choose how they receive payment, with proportional distribution.
GameStop itself believes the price includes a premium of about 27% over the average share price for the last 30 days and about 36% over the 90-day average.
GameStop has already acquired a stake in eBay. Through derivatives and direct share ownership, it has accumulated about a 5% stake.
A Smaller Player Targets a Larger Platform
The deal itself is unusual. GameStop is trying to buy a company several times its size. The money is planned to be raised from various sources: cash, external loans, and its own shares.
The company stated that the cash portion will be covered by its reserves and liquid assets. At the end of January, it had about $9.4 billion. The rest is planned to be closed through external financing. In particular, TD Securities has already provided a letter of intent to support the deal for up to $20 billion.
But there is still too much uncertainty. The deal depends on GameStop’s own share price, additional financing, and of course, the approval of eBay shareholders.
eBay said that the board of directors, along with advisors, will review the proposal. They also clarified that there had been no prior negotiations with GameStop.
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Right now, they’re trying to determine what real value the deal will bring to shareholders. This includes evaluating the share portion offered in GameStop and the company’s ability to complete the deal.
While the review is ongoing, shareholders have been advised to take no action.
The market reacted immediately. GameStop shares fell after the news, while eBay shares rose. This reflects investors’ doubts that GameStop can finance and close a deal of this scale.
Why GameStop Wants to Buy eBay
GameStop is betting on Ryan Cohen’s idea: under his leadership, eBay can earn more. He is focusing on cutting costs, integrating with the retail network, and more actively developing areas such as collectibles, authentication, and live commerce.
According to their calculations, in the first year after closing the deal, about $2 billion can be saved. The main part is marketing and sales — about $1.2 billion. Another $300 million is planned to be cut in product development and about $500 million in administrative expenses.
GameStop points to eBay’s weak efficiency. In 2025, the platform spent about $2.4 billion on marketing, but the increase was only about 1 million active buyers.
At the same time, development costs rose by 11%, while revenue increased by only 8%. This is the logic Cohen uses to argue that costs can be cut without serious harm to the business.
But it’s not just about saving money. GameStop wants to use its network of about 1,600 stores in the U.S. as part of eBay’s infrastructure. They can be used for product authentication, order pickup, logistics, and even live sales.
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Essentially, GameStop’s offline network could complement eBay’s online platform. This is especially important for categories where trust and physical verification are critical.
This primarily concerns collectibles, cards, retro games, sneakers, luxury goods, and electronics. In many of these segments, eBay is already active, and GameStop is trying to gain a foothold there after the decline in classic game sales.
If the deal goes through, Ryan Cohen will head the combined company.
He already has similar experience. Since 2021, he has led GameStop from a loss of $381 million to a profit of more than $418 million by the end of 2025. The company closed ineffective international operations and shifted focus to more profitable segments, including retro games and collectibles.
At the same time, Cohen does not receive a salary or bonuses, and his stake in GameStop is about 9%.
What This Means for Bitcoin
GameStop has not directly stated that it intends to implement bitcoin on eBay. But the very idea of the deal raises another question: what happens when a company with BTC on its balance sheet gains access to a platform with 135 million users?
So far, GameStop has used bitcoin more as a financial asset. In May 2025, the company bought 4,710 BTC for about $513 million and added them to its reserves.
Moreover, it was not just about storage. These assets were pledged as collateral for working with Coinbase, where they are used in yield strategies. So the company maintains exposure to BTC and earns income from it.
With eBay, the situation could change. In this case, crypto from the balance sheet could move into the platform’s infrastructure.
Currently, bitcoin has already established itself as a tool for large investors through ETFs, but it is rarely used in everyday payments. Fees and a complex tax model are obstacles.
Here, eBay has a key advantage — scale. That’s 135 million buyers, nearly 190 countries, and about $80 billion in annual merchandise turnover.
If Cohen takes control of the platform and decides to leverage GameStop’s crypto experience, it may not just be about adding BTC payments.
For example, eBay could implement bitcoin payments and use Lightning Network for fast cross-border transfers between sellers and buyers.
In addition, the platform is already strong in categories like collectibles, cards, and luxury goods. Here, tools like Ordinals could be used to create digital certificates of authenticity and anchor them on the blockchain.
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Other scenarios are also possible. For example, linking accounts to verified BTC wallets to reduce fraud, or allowing sellers to hold balances in bitcoin and earn income from it.
For now, these are just hypotheses. There have been no official announcements of such plans.
But even a partial launch at such scale could be a serious test for bitcoin. Especially if it involves expensive goods or international transactions.
In this case, eBay under GameStop’s management could become the first major platform to test whether bitcoin can serve as a foundation for global commerce.
The GameStop-eBay Deal May Face Obstacles
Despite all the plans, the deal itself is still far from a guaranteed outcome. GameStop’s offer remains non-binding, and eBay’s board of directors has not supported it.
Now GameStop will have to convince shareholders. On several points at once: that GameStop shares can be considered a reliable part of the deal, that financing can be secured on acceptable terms, and that aggressive optimization will not harm eBay’s business.
There are also organizational problems. Cohen has already said he is ready to go directly to shareholders if the board refuses, but the window to nominate candidates for the board at the June meeting has already closed.
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Regulators may also intervene. A deal between two large companies with overlapping interests will certainly be closely scrutinized. Yes, the risk of antitrust issues is lower than with the merger of two pure e-commerce giants, but the scale and financing structure will still attract attention.
At the same time, eBay does not currently look like the weaker party. The company is showing strong results, increasing turnover, and actively developing areas such as resales, live sales, and AI-based tools.
The board of directors now has an argument that an independent strategy may be more profitable than a deal with GameStop.
For GameStop, this is a serious test. The company is trying to move away from its old model, which has long been losing relevance.
After the 2021 hype, it focused on cutting costs, strengthening the balance sheet, collectibles, and bitcoin. Buying eBay would be a logical continuation of this strategy, but on a much larger scale.
If the deal falls through, the conversation about bitcoin will remain theoretical. GameStop will remain a retailer with BTC on its balance sheet and income strategies for it.
But if the deal moves forward, the situation changes. Then the company that originally bought bitcoin for itself will have the opportunity to decide whether one of the oldest internet platforms will become a testbed for crypto payments, stablecoins, and a new model of online commerce.
